


To Put A Stopper In Death

by Yatorihell



Series: In The Darkness [68]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, ノラガミ | Noragami (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:48:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29064591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yatorihell/pseuds/Yatorihell
Summary: Yato has been put under a spell but that becomes the least of their worries.
Relationships: Iki Hiyori/Yato
Series: In The Darkness [68]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/547369
Comments: 3
Kudos: 12





	To Put A Stopper In Death

“Yukine. _Yukine_! There’s an idiot screaming your name at the front door.”

The hard push against his side through his duvet had Yukine snort wake, confused and grumbling as his roommate walked back to their bed and buried themselves under the covers.

Yukine stared into the darkness and debated going back to sleep, but he could faintly hear his name being shouted through the echoing caverns of Hufflepuff’s underground dormitories. The clock on the bedside table told him it was one in the morning. He cursed.

_“Yukineeeeeeeeee! Why doesn’t she love meeeeeee?!”_

Yukine cursed a thousand times on his way out of his room, through the halls, and into the common room. The fireplace had dwindled down to a smouldering heap of logs that left the room chilly and the flagstones shockingly cold on his bare feet. Yukine wrenched the front door open.

Yato stood half supported by the few barrels that attempted to conceal the Hufflepuff entrance. He wore half-buttoned up blue pajamas and a dopey, chocolate-smeared smile.

“Yukine! My best friend. Puffkine.”

“Are you having a breakdown?”

Yato blew air through his lips. “No, I’m having a wonderful night, but my… _BUNK_ mates are standing in the way of true love.”

Yukine heaved a sigh and pulled the door fully open. Yato was under some sort of spell, and it was no good leaving him in the hallway to scream about it until all hours of the night until a teacher would find him.

“Yato, you need to be quiet,” Yukine said in a low voice, hoping that Yato would match his tone. “People are sleeping, and it’s a school night.”

Yato blew another raspberry but complied as Yukine heaved him up and dragged him into the common room. He dropped Yato on one of the faded yellow armchairs and looked down at him. Yato smiled back.

Yukine sighed. “Just… stay there for a minute.”

Yato nodded.

When Yukine returned from his room two minutes later, now wearing a jumper and slippers and carrying a blanket, Yato was sat on the floor gazing up out of the slitted window at the moon.

Yukine threw the blanket over Yato’s head, startling him into breaking his gaze away and back to Yukine as he set about making a new fire with his wand.

Yato pulled the woolen blanket around himself so only his head poked out. “Yukine, I love her.”

Yukine rolled his eyes. He must mean Hiyori; the penny finally dropped.

“I’m in love with her!” Yato insisted when Yukine didn’t reply.

“I know, Yato.”

“I CAN’T BREATHE WITHOUT HER YUKINE!”

“YES, YATO I KNOW!”

The fire began to crackle and lick at the logs Yukine placed in the hearth, and for a moment there was silence. Blissful silence.

“Do you think she knows I exist?”

Yukine threw his head back with an irritated exhale. “Yato, you’ve been friends for six years.”

“But am I _just_ a _FRIEND_?!” Yato threw himself forward at this question, eyes wide with worry at the prospect of Hiyori not seeing him as anything more than an acquaintance. He seemed to forget that they had been a couple for the Yule Ball and, most recently, the Christmas party. Heck, she’d even had him by the tie not too long ago.

“It’s a miracle if you’re still friends after this,” Yukine muttered under his breath. Half of him wished Hiyori could see Yato in this annoyingly hilarious predicament, the other half wished he would shut up and sleep it off already.

Yukine flopped into an armchair by Yato’s place on the floor. Judging by the remaining chocolate around his mouth and his ramblings, Yukine could only guess Yato was under some sort of love spell – powerful, too. He needed to get help, but Yato seemed to have sunken into a depression, moonlight bathing his forlorn expression as he stared out of the sunflower-capped window.

Yukine grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled with a sense of desperation:

_Yato’s under a love potion. Meet at Grand Staircase. Save me._

The paper folded into a butterfly in his lap and, unbeknownst to Yato, fluttered out of the window. With any luck, Hiyori’s window would be open and she could come to help him.

Yukine waited five minutes, ten minutes, before deciding that he couldn’t stand to wait any longer listening to Yato’s mooning. He pushed himself up from his chair, playing up to Yato’s daydream.

“Come on, we’ll go see Hiyori.”

Yato practically sprung across the room at this, the blanket falling to the ground and his expression elated. He was practically buzzing with excitement as he wiped the chocolate from his mouth and tried to fix his hair as Yukine pushed him out of the common room.

Yato grabbed a clutch of sunflowers from a vase next to the door and buried his face in them, eyes starry and cheeks tinged pink. “Do you think she’ll like them?”

“Yeah, yeah, they’re great,” Yukine said, barely pausing to bundle him out of the door and upstairs.

They had the small grace of not being spotted by patrolling teachers, which could’ve made the situation worse as Yukine tried to keep the loved-up Slytherin from wandering up to Gryffindor Tower to his beloved.

Yukine pretended not to hear Yato whispering _‘she loves me, she loves me not’_ repeatedly as he plucked the fragile petals from the sunflower heads until he held a stem-based bouquet in his fists.

It was at this moment Hiyori appeared around the corner and waved at the pair, still in pajamas and trotting over quickly before stopping in front of them.

“Thanks for coming,” Yukine said.

“No problem,” Hiyori replied, giving Yato a worried look as he shied away from her. She dropped her voice to a whisper. “Is he ok?”

Before he could speak, Yukine felt a tugging on the hem of his nightshirt.

“Introduce me!” Yato hissed in his ear.

Hiyori tilted her head to the side slightly, expression befuddled as she tried to make out what Yato was saying.

Yukine let out a bitter sigh and gave Hiyori a long-suffering look.

“Hiyori, this is Yato.” The words left Yukine’s mouth painstakingly and he swept his hand between the pair. “Yato, Hiyori.”

Before Hiyori could ask if Yato had amnesia, Yato thrust the sunflower stems out under Hiyori’s nose, chest puffed out and cheeks burning red.

“F-For you.”

Uncertainly, Hiyori took the bouquet in both hands. “Uh, thanks…”

“Come on, we’re going to Madame Kofuku,” Yukine put his hand on Yato’s elbow to guide him away, but he twisted around like a fussy child, eyes on Hiyori until she awkwardly stepped beside him.

“Shouldn’t we go to the infirmary?” Hiyori asked. She politely tucked the flower stems into her pocket and placed a hand on Yato’s elbow, and she could’ve sworn Yato swooned.

Yukine shook his head. “This is strong, and I don’t know how this happened to him. Better to go to Madame Kofuku.”

Yato could barely keep his eyes off Hiyori, resulting in Yukine steering him in the direction of Madame Kofuku’s office, which proved difficult as they reached the spiral steps and Yato wanted to hold Hiyori’s hand. Hiyori complied with a blush that deepened as Yato smiled at her like she was life itself. She had to remind herself that this wasn’t Yato.

Yukine gave three harsh raps on the door, and after a moment of muffled shuffling, the door cracked open. Madame Kofuku frowned and pulled the door open, revealing that she was, too, in her pajamas with a black kimono pulled around herself despite the roaring fire heating the space.

“Hiyori, Yukine… Yato?” Madame Kofuku asked. Her gaze narrowed on Yato who had taken to staring at Hiyori and not paying attention to anything else. “What is this?”

“Yato was given a love potion,” Yukine said, and that was enough for Madame Kofuku’s eyes to widen.

She pulled the door open fully and stepped aside, ushering the three in. It took Hiyori a moment to separate her hand from Yato’s, but when she did, Madame Kofuku guided Yato to sit on the sofa in the centre of the office.

“Who gave it to him?” Madame Kofuku asked, looking in Yato’s star-struck face for any signs of consciousness.

Yukine shrugged. “I don’t know, he showed up like this.”

Madame Kofuku sighed and turned, mumbling something about how love potions were not something to be played with. She crossed the room to a chest that lay on the counter against the wall, and the tinkling of vials filled the room as she set about making an antidote.

Yukine had to keep pushing Yato down by the shoulder every time he moved to rise, making eyes at Hiyori as he tried to get closer to her. Hiyori decided to move closer to abate Yato’s need to fidget, and it seemed to work. She discreetly pulled the flower stems out of her pocket and set them behind a cushion on the sofa.

“Here we go,” Madame Kofuku said.

She turned, kimono fluttering around her as she crossed the room and held out a cup of dark liquid to Yato. He took it and looked at Hiyori, as if asking for permission, and she nodded with an unsure smile.

It was all he needed to down the mixture in one, sighing and hiccupping as the glass left his lips.

The three of them watched expectantly as Yato’s face slowly lost its dopey, lovestruck look and he came back to his senses. His eyes flicked between Madame Kofuku, Yukine and then Hiyori, mouth falling open slightly.

“What happened to me?” Yato asked.

“Love potion,” Madame Kofuku picked up the empty glass and crossing the room. “Powerful one, too. You need to drink something else to flush it out of your system.”

Yato looked just as lost with the explanation. He stumbled to the fireplace and turned in a slow circle, trying to remember how he had got from his bed to the office without any recollection of it.

Hiyori did her best to avoid eye contact with him. Yukine, on the other hand, was just relieved to not have to hear Yato wax on about his undying love for Hiyori, which he seemed to have completely forgotten.

Madame Kofuku’s head had ducked into a tall cabinet in the back corner of the room, bottle-laden shelves peeking out at them – her private alcohol stock, it seemed – as she murmured names of drinks they barely knew. Her hand fell on a black bottle, and she hummed to herself thoughtfully.

“I shouldn’t have this really, but given the circumstances…”

Her fingers wrapped around the bottleneck as she twisted the cork out with a satisfying pop. She poured a tipple into four small glasses, and the sweet yet nauseating smell of alcohol greeted them as she passed the glasses out.

“To love,” Madame Kofuku said humorously, raising her glass in a toast.

Hiyori and Yukine raised theirs in unison, but the dull thump and shattering of glass had them jump and spin.

Yato lay on the ground, white froth seeping out from his mouth. His eyes had rolled skyward as his body lost control, twitching and spasming. Beside him shards of glass glittering in the firelight.

Three glasses hit the floor and shattered in unison, mixed calls rising of his name falling from panicked lips as Hiyori and Madame Kofuku fell to the floor on either side of Yato. Yukine froze in horror as he watched the scene unfold.

Hiyori felt panic rising in her chest as she watched his expression; eyes half-lidded and rolling as Madame Kofuku tried to clear his airways, bile seeping out of the corner of his mouth and choking on whatever poison he had ingested.

Madame Kofuku whipped her head around to Yukine and screamed one word.

“BEZOAR!”

Yukine snapped, and his reaction was instantaneous. He hurled the table and there was a crash as he upended the chest onto the counter, sending a cascade of vials spinning and rolling and shattering to the ground. Ingredients littered the counter: pouches and dried leaves and crushed powders. All wrong. All useless.

Finally, his hands scrabbled against a small yellow stone amongst the herbs. Yukine stumbled and collapsed next to Hiyori, tears running down her face and his name broken on her lips. Yato’s movements had reduced to sporadic twitching as Yukine’s fingers forced Yato’s mouth open to place the bezoar in his mouth. Madame Kofuku rubbed his throat, urging Yato to swallow to stone.

Yato’s body stilled, eyes open and staring back into the fireplace. The silence deafened them, the cracks and pops of the fire an intrusion on this moment of life and death. Hiyori’s fingers begged for his heart to match her own erratic beat.

For him to come back and live.

And her wish came true.

Yato took in a ragged breath, his joints seizing as oxygen rushed to his head. He spluttered and coughed, sending specks of bile over himself and the others, but it was welcomed with rushed sighs and a choked sob.

His eyes remained unfocused as they came back into view, blue and _alive_ and staring at Hiyori before darkness rushed in and swept him away.

~

Hiyori, Yukine, Madame Kofuku, and Professor Tenjin surrounded Yato’s bed in the infirmary. 

Yato lay unconscious, neatly tucked into his sheets and propped up on soft pillows as they quietly talked between themselves. It had only been a few hours since Yato had emerged at Hufflepuff dormitories under a love potion and even less time from when he had been poisoned in Madame Kofuku’s office.

“We had Professor Takemikazuchi search Yato’s room and the Slytherin dormitories,” Madame Kofuku was saying as Hiyori pried her attention away from Yato. Her hand had found its way to his side when she sat down at his bedside.

“He found a box of chocolates laced with Amortentia…” Madame Kofuku’s demeanor wavered as she paused, all eyes on her. “From Hiyori.”

All eyes turned to Hiyori. Her mouth dropped open and her fist tightened on the sheet by Yato’s hand. “I didn’t give them to him!”

Professor Tenjin stood at the foot of the bed with Madame Kofuku. He made a low noise in his throat, eyes closed in a concentrated frown as Yukine agreed from opposite her. It went without saying that they believed her, despite what evidence they may have found.

“Amortentia makes the drinker fall in love with whoever gives it to them,” Madame Kofuku continued. “It is possible Hiyori was Yato’s… fixation… because he thought they were from her.”

“And the wine?” Professor Tenjin asked.

Their attention piqued with a deathly silence. The wine was within Madame Kofuku’s own stocks; how could it poison someone? Madame Kofuku shifted on her feet and tucked a straggled lock of hair behind her ear before folding her arms.

“It was a gift left in my office at the end of the last term. However…” Madame Kofuku’s tone turned regretful, “I intended to give it to you as it was your favourite drink, but I forgot.”

Professor Tenjin’s frown deepened as he opened his eyes and looked at Yato. Even if the wine was intended for Madame Kofuku, there was a foreboding sense that there was a deeper plot at work; an anonymous gift, one that nearly ended up in the headmaster’s own goblet.

Yato stirred, his head lolling to the side in a pained noise that pinched his brows. Hiyori shuffled to the edge of her seat and leaned closer, fingers twitching against his.

“I think it’s best we let him rest. You two as well,” Professor Tenjin said with a nod. “You are excused from classes tomorrow.”

Yukine and Hiyori murmured thanks as they left, and without noticing, Hiyori’s hand had slipped into Yato’s as he whined again.

Yukine gave her a tired, lopsided smile when she glanced across at him, the sound of the teacher’s footsteps receding from the room.

"Oh, shut up," Hiyori said softly, but she didn’t bother hiding the smile on her face as she looked back at Yato, who was completely oblivious to the world. Just as she had been when she was injured only a few months ago.

Tonight, it would be her turn to watch over him.

~

Yukine had left after a few hours, finding it too uncomfortable to try and sleep in the wooden chair. Hiyori had ushered him away and back to his own dormitories, saying that she would be able to look after Yato herself.

Hiyori found herself slumped on the bed with her hand entwined in Yato’s until the late hours when the sunlight finally broke through the clouds and shone dappled light onto the screening curtain that divided them from the rest of the world.

The rustling of Yato's bedsheets and his small whine woke Hiyori instantly.

Yato’s midnight hair fanned out on the bedsheet, partially swept over his closed eyes. Hiyori shushed him, her fingers moving up to brush his fringe from his forehead. Yato’s brow scrunched slightly, a huff of air escaping his lips. The steady rise and fall of his chest with each deep breath told her that he was unaware of her over attentiveness.

His dark eyelashes flickered slightly as he dreamt, a small frown creasing into his forehead as his lips moved silently, uttering words that she couldn’t quite catch.

Hiyori stood and felt her knees protest the movement from their locked position as she leaned closer, a hand resting on the bed beside him as she strained to make out his words. His quiet breathing warmed her skin as he spoke.

“ _Hiyori..._ ” Yato whispered, barely audible if not for the silence of the empty infirmary. His head twisted on the pillow, messing up his dark hair and parting it from his boyish face.

Hiyori hardly noticed as he turned to face her directly, still unconscious and oblivious to his face being only centimeters from her own.

“What are you doing?”

Hiyori jumped back, furiously blushing as Yukine stared at her from the parted curtain – amused at the intimate scene – holding two cups in his hands.

“H-he said he wants water!” Hiyori exclaimed too quickly, brushing past him as she strode out of the room, feigning normalcy. “I’ll be back in a minute!”

“But I brought water!” Yukine called after her, voice fading as she rushed away. He turned and looked at Yato who rolled over in his sleep, dead to the world.

“I bet he did something stupid,” Yukine muttered, crossing the space to set down the cups on the cabinet beside the bed.

As if on cue, Yato’s eyes opened and he groaned. Yukine spared him a quick glance before slumping into a chair beside him.

“Good, you’re awake,” Yukine said. He kicked his feet up onto the edge of the bed as Yato rubbed his eyes and squinted at him.

“Have you been watching me this whole time?” Yato asked.

Yukine snorted. Hiyori was the one who seemed to have been staring, but he wouldn’t divulge that information. “No, I went back to bed. Hiyori stayed.”

Yato pushed himself up and his eyes flickered to the empty chair on his right as if searching for her presence.

“You were saying all sorts of embarrassing things in your sleep,” Yukine continued. “Half of it didn’t make sense, but at least Hiyori was sleeping.”

Yato hazily remembered something about a love potion and could only assume the worst of what he might have said, but he didn’t ask. Soft footsteps entered the infirmary, interrupting his thoughts, and a moment later Hiyori was at the curtain. Yukine noticed that Hiyori was lacking the water she said she’d gone to get.

Yato gave Hiyori a small wave. “Morning.”

Hiyori flustered for a moment, not expecting him to be awake yet, before sinking back in her chair beside him.

“How are you feeling?” Hiyori asked. She smoothed her hands over her pajamas, thankful that she’d used the bathroom to regain her composure and fix her mussed-up hair.

Yato, on the other hand, looked surprisingly good with his flattened hair. She tore her eyes away as she felt herself lingering on it, trying to ignore the ghost feeling of it against her fingertips.

“Good sleep, I guess, but a terrible way to get it,” Yato said with a wry smile.

Hiyori would’ve bit back a smile if she found it funny, but the fact was that Yato nearly died last night. Only Madame Kofuku’s and Yukine’s quick thinking had brought him back.

“Madame Kofuku doesn’t know who the wine came from,” Yukine explained. Yato had yet to catch up on the night’s events. “But it was meant to end up in Professor Tenjin’s goblet.”

Yato’s face darkened. This was the second time something was meant to end up in Professor Tenjin’s hands; first the cursed necklace, now the poisoned wine. Whoever wanted the headmaster dead was clearly not giving up anytime soon, and Nora was willing to help.

“Sounds like Nora is up to her old tricks.”

“Seems that way,” Yukine agreed ruefully.

A beat of silence passed between them. From the distance they could hear a bell ring out – second period, probably – and the growing clamour of students passing between the moving staircases.

Yato’s attention turned to Hiyori, and she froze under his searching gaze. She could’ve sworn a hint of an embarrassed smile played at the corner of his lips.

“And you, giving me a box of chocolates?” Yato’s tone was teasing, though she wasn’t sure what there was to tease about. Love potions were dangerous and only brewed infatuation; something they had seen clearly the previous night.

And more importantly, it was not something she would do.

“No, I didn’t,” Hiyori said. The humour died in Yato’s eyes, and Hiyori’s gaze slipped away from him. “I didn’t give you those chocolates.”

Yato looked at Yukine, whose confused expression matched his own. The box had been addressed from Hiyori, he had been infatuated with Hiyori, but it wasn’t her who gave them.

Then who did?

**Author's Note:**

> God, I wrote most of this nearly three years ago. I had to do some light editing but yes, it gets worse :)  
> Hope you enjoyed this one I couldn't wait to publish it and see your reactions


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